Jonathan Papelbon — Phillies ‘Lack Leadership’

Jonathan Papelbon came over to the Philadelphia Phillies from a Red Sox team that, at the time, probably had more leaders than actual soldiers. In his time with Philly, Papelbon has been waiting for one of the Phillies to step up and take a vocal role.

"It's something that's been irking Papelbon for a while. 'Since I've been here I haven't seen any leadership,' he said."

The leadership issue doesn't just bother Papelbon. Pitcher Roy Halladay, arguable the most important cog in the Phillies machine looking to compete with the stacked Washington Nationals in the NL East this season, also has some problems with the way the Phillies don't always rise to the occasion.

"The big thing for me is when I first came over, we always had such good teams that there wasn't a real sense of urgency because they always felt like it was a matter of time before they took over the division," Halladay said this week. "Now the division's getting better and I just think there needs to be more of a sense of urgency at the start of the year and especially in spring training.

Statements like those made by Papelbon and Halladay are usually part of an agenda -- either they feel someone in the clubhouse needs to step up and they don't want to name names OR Pabelbon and Halladay are about to run things in the Home clubhouse. Time will tell.